Stearns should be lauded for bringing rampant PKU plagiarism to light

I applaud professor Stephen Stearns ’67 for publicizing the rampant plagiarism and cheating he encountered while teaching his courses in evolutionary biology at Peking University in China last semester (“At Peking University, allegations of plagiarism fly,” 1/14).

Although I am sure this took some of the joy from an otherwise successful experience for professor Stearns, he can gather some comfort from the fact that bringing this type of behavior to the surface will be important in initiating changes in the future.

Joel Rosenbaum

Jan. 14

The writer is a professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale.